Ladies Newsletter – October

Really not sure where I am going to start this month as so many of you have been racing or out training. Been a bit of a depressing month with the clocks changing and the nights closing in – three weeks of consecutive rain on a Monday hill session was a bit of a shock to the system! The loss of Clive was very sad but you all know my thoughts on that which I am not going to write again apart from to say, come back soon….

Wednesday nights are still busy with more new ladies joining each week – our official new members are Sarah, Linzi, Carina, Rachel and Claudia with a couple more joining up shortly. With Sarah, we welcomed Eliza into the XC Junior Team.

If I do not mention your name then please do not take offence – Marion is very careful with the race reports and with 80 ladies now, you are going to get very bored if I regurgitate it all. I decided this month to write it all down each week so I do not miss anything but I have pages of what each and every one of you has done. Opportune time also to say that I know who has been runner of the month for the last couple of years and with so many ladies doing great things, it is unlikely that I will give a repeat award even though some of you just keep churning out more and more pbs and standards – I do notice!!

As a team we were flying this month with an Essex Champs team silver medal Silver at Tiptree 10 and the Team Prize at Wix 5 mile. We are still 2nd in the Essex Champs series with only one more race to run. Barbara came away from Tiptree with another Essex Championship gold medal. A number of us need to run well at Chelmsford for the last Essex Champs and will hopefully come away with a series medal of some colour. Eileen and I came away with our age group prizes from Wix. We started the Cross Country season well with 5th place for the first race. Our XC Junior Team started their season well in 8th place with Amie, Hallie & Emily back for more mud and Eve & Eliza joining them for the first time. According to my hubbie, most women (apart from poor Lynsey) and kids looked happy with their first outing of the season. Not too bad a haul in a month!!

If we go backwards from the end of the month, a big well done to Claudia, Claire G and Alison for their XC debuts and the rest of you for going back for more – 19 of you were out. That leaves a lot of you new members not yet dipping your toes in the mud – come and have a chat with me if you are not sure what you are letting yourself in for. Thanks to our scorers – Sophie, Anna, Eileen and Steph and I should probably add cake makers as no doubt it was mainly the women stuck in the kitchen baking them!

On the marathon front, another 6 of you went the distance and one was mad enough to go for even longer a week later!! We had Lynsey, Alison and Chusa completing their first in Chelmsford and Janine finishing her 22nd in Yorkshire. Natalie surviving the Chelmsford course after pulling out of Peterborough and finally Anna M having an amazing race to knock 34 mins off her time. Not content with a mere 26.2 miles, Chusa went on to do the Stort 30 in just over 5 hours (beating Lee in the process I might add!!). How do you do that after a marathon the week before…..??

You have been Park running all month – great performances from Bee and Lynsey who have got PBs at them. Bee at Colchester and Lynsey at Harrow.

Wix was a great turnout – perhaps not a great race for some of you but for others, you excelled. It was Club Champs but you can all wait until the Presentation night to find out who was club champ in each age group. We had 6 gold standards, 1 silver and 4 bronze as well as 5 pbs.

Tiptree was also Club Champs and Essex Champs for the 10 mile distance – great team spirit yet again. Once more, another great haul of standards – 2 Diamonds, 3 Golds, 2 Silver and a Bronze. Although she said she wasn’t happy with her time, I was just pleased to see Lara at the start line again. Talking of women who have been a little quiet (more like exceptionally busy with their life outside running!!) Tricia was back with a great run at the Blenheim 10k. Out to pb on one of the flattest half marathon courses around were Marion and Sue T. Marion did not disappoint with a gold standard/pb and I am hoping that Sue is thrilled with her bronze standard. Caroline fitted another half marathon in at the Royal Parks Half in London and Debbie took on the Eden Project Half Marathon – well done to you both.

And now to finally end my waffle with my Runner of the Month – so very hard to choose this month as so many of you have had a great month but I have homed in on a person who is full of grit and determination with a constant smile on her face. She was told by her doctor a year ago that to avoid a back op she had to push herself to work harder….and boy has she done so!! At the moment, I am not quite sure how she is fitting in all the different sports she has decided to challenge herself in but she still managed a 5km PB followed by a 10 mile PB the next day (not sure I would encourage the rest of you to race twice in 2 days but hey ho, somehow she manages it!!) and then she completed her first marathon at Chelmsford. However, true to her personality, she said she would run it with a friend and she stuck to her word ensuring that they both got to the finish line even though I don’t think he thought he would get there. So, a big WELL DONE to LYNSEY APPS, you are the Runner of the Month for October. As I haven’t seen you since your incident at XC, I am hoping you are still running…..!!

Best Wishes

Vicky x

PS A few notices…….

Presentation night, 6th Dec – this is a great event where various awards will be handed out, good food and a boogie afterwards. Limited capacity in hall so get in quick with getting your tickets – tickets available from me, Anita or Paul

Rodger’s Trail run on Sunday 2nd November – 13 miles, great fun with cake at the end. This is the longest one with a mid week 5 miler coming up in the middle of November.

Next XC on 16 November at Abbey Fields, Colchester – new venue so no idea what it is like. Knowing Abbey Fields, I can’t see it will be that bad (famous last words!!) so may be a good one for the new ladies/girls to try.

Club Champs/Essex Champs – 23 November 2pm Chelmsford 10k, still some places available. Let’s get the women’s team to second in the series which will be our highest ever finish.

If the above is just jargon to you and makes no sense, email or speak to me. Made no sense to me either when I first joined!!